A History of Black Hair and Cultural Appropriation

For my project, I wanted to take a deeper look into cultural ties between black women and their hair. Specifically, I wanted to emphasize the fact that white people wearing these hairstyles IS and forever WILL BE cultural appropriation. Although black people have been punished for wearing their hair naturally, or trying to style it any way except for straight, white people have copied these styles without any concern for the cultural relevance or historical context in which these styles came about. I completed my project via a 5-page paper and a painting. 

I started out by researching the history behind a lot of different hairstyles. I learned so much through the research phase that I was both angered and inspired when I finished. Here are a few examples:

-          Box braids became popular because slaves only had 1 day a week to focus on personal hygiene so they needed the style to last a full week.

•  In African cultures, it is believed that spirits leave the body through the scalp. They began knotting and tangling their hair into dreadlocks to keep all energies inside.

•           Head scarves became popular when a law was enacted called the Tignon Law that made it illegal for any woman of African descent to show their hair, out of fear that white men would become attracted to them and white women would lose their social status.

•           Lighter-skin slaves with looser curls were treated “better,” and by better I mean they were allowed to sleep in the master’s house as his sex slave instead of working outside.

Even though these styles were all created BY black people FOR black people, when they wear these styles, they are frequently punished. There was a very publicized case of this recently when a black high school student was forced to cut his dreadlocks in order to participate in a wrestling match. Another black high school student was told to cut his hair or he wouldn’t be allowed to walk at his graduation ceremony. A news anchor in Mississippi was fired for refusing to wear her hair any other way than how it naturally lays – in an afro. They said her hairstyle was unprofessional. 

Every celebrity, from Kylie Jenner to Justin Bieber, that has been told to stop appropriating black culture has always used the excuse, “it’s just hair.” After learning of the dark, painful histories that led to the creation of these hairstyles, it is clear that black identities are wrapped up in their hair, and to use it for the sake of being trendy is appropriation. 

My favorite part of my project was creating my painting. I knew I wanted to create images of black women with different hairstyles, but I also wanted to depict both the ugly history and the current struggles of black women regarding their hair. I decided to do this by painting harsh black lines that almost invade the space of the women in the paintings. When people look at the painting, I want them to question why I’d “ruin” such a pretty picture with these harsh lines… and then I want them to GET IT. Copying these hairstyles because they’re pretty is missing the point. They were created out of necessity, not trendiness. 

I started my painting by sketching out the women and their hairstyles. When I went to bed that night, my mom said, “You should just leave it like that. It’s pretty.” I knew it was pretty, but that wasn’t the point of the painting. The next day I started off by painting the backgrounds and the black lines. She asked, “Why didn’t you make those lines straight and clean? It might’ve looked better that way.” I knew it would look nicer if it was cleaner, but that wasn’t the point. After I finished painting my gorgeous ladies, I stood back and looked at it and I was SO PROUD. I am not the type of gal to credit myself much, so for me to absolutely LOVE something I’d made was a big deal for me! I still am so proud of it and so excited to show everybody.